Burke Foundation, Rutgers School of Public Health Evaluating Innovative Pregnancy Care Implementation to Inform Expansion
CenteringPregnancy Aims to Improve Maternal Infant Health, Reduce Disparities
The Burke Foundation is funding the Rutgers School of Public Health to conduct the first statewide evaluation in New Jersey of an innovative model to improve maternal infant health through group prenatal visits. It’s a promising way to deliver healthcare by bringing expectant mothers together so they can spend more time with their healthcare providers in a welcoming and supportive group setting.
CenteringPregnancy brings together 8-10 pregnant women all due around the same time for their routine prenatal visits. The participants have private time with their healthcare provider and then gather with other patients for a discussion with the provider and another care team member, such as a doula, nurse, or patient navigator. These wide-ranging discussions cover such topics as nutrition, stress management, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, and infant care — or anything else on participants’ minds. Group members often form supportive relationships with their peers and connect in ways that are not possible in traditional prenatal care.
A central aim of the evaluation of eight New Jersey CenteringPregnancy sites is to gather insights on how pregnant women with various backgrounds experience group healthcare. New Jersey has among the widest racial disparities for both maternal and infant mortality in the U.S. A Black mother in New Jersey is almost seven times more likely than a white mother to die from maternity-related complications, and Black babies are nearly three times more likely to die before their first birthday than white babies.
To help ensure women of color participating in Centering are comfortable during the evaluation, the Rutgers School of Public Health partnered with six Black women who recently gave birth in New Jersey to help design the data collection tools and facilitate discussions with participants. These community researchers previously collaborated with Leslie Kantor at the Rutgers School of Public Health on a community-based participatory research study on Black women’s pregnancy-related experiences in Newark.
Research finds that this group prenatal care model helps improve outcomes for mothers and infants and improves their overall care experiences, especially among people of color.
“What we’ll learn will help us as we increase availability of CenteringPregnancy in New Jersey,” said Atiya Weiss, executive director of the Burke Foundation. “It’s important to find out how we can better understand the value of the program to patients and providers and gauge its effectiveness and impact on participants’ health. We deeply value the engagement of community researchers working with Dr. Leslie Kantor and the Rutgers team.” The Burke Foundation is funding the expansion of Centering to as many as 50 New Jersey sites; there are now 23 Burke-funded CenteringPregnancy and CenteringParenting sites in the state.
The Burke Foundation funds CenteringPregnancy as part of its First 1,000 Days initiative, focused on the time from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday. This is the most determinative time for cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical health development crucial to lifelong well-being.
The evaluation is expected to take 12 months. In 2019-2021, data from four CenteringPregnancy sites principally funded by Burke and the New Jersey Department of Health produced encouraging results. Among the 145 families involved, there were less frequent preterm, low birthweight newborns. The data also showed increased breastfeeding rates at hospital discharge compared to the overall rates where these sites are located. These results spurred the Burke Foundation to expand CenteringPregnancy and support the external evaluation with the Rutgers School of Public Health.
“Our team is eager to gain insights into CenteringPregnancy from the women participating in the program as well as from stakeholders at each healthcare site. We will learn lessons that can improve the experiences and outcomes for pregnant women in New Jersey and more broadly,” said Kantor, principal investigator of the evaluation and chair of the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health.
One of the CenteringPregnancy sites is at St. Joseph’s Health in Paterson. Roger P. Kierce, chairman, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said he welcomed the evaluation.
“At St. Joseph's Health, we're eager to partner with the Rutgers School of Public Health and the Burke Foundation on the CenteringPregnancy evaluation. The findings will help us continue to improve our CenteringPregnancy program and will advance our commitment to maternal health throughout New Jersey and elsewhere,” said Kierce.
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About the Burke Foundation
The Burke Foundation provides catalytic funding to nonprofit partners, state agencies, and communities to promote meaningful and measurable impact on children and families across New Jersey. Learn more at www.burkefoundation.org.
